devildog

Printing full color stickers.......

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I am thinking of designing and then printing full (multi) color stickers and then contour printing them on my cutter. The problem is that I have no idea what would be the best way to do this. Can I use my HP photo printer I have? It does an amazing job with photographs. Can I load up a sheet of 8x11 vinyl in it and print my stickers to it? Is there a special ink I need to use? If it won't work with what I have, is there something I should be looking into to get it done?

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you can get inkjet printable vinyl at papilio.com

It will come out decent, but not the same as what you see from the big shops. The big ones are usually using solvent printers or silk screen systems. These are expensive and huge.

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You will need a printer that uses pigment Ink at least.....Kodak or Epson both have them

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I did these to give away with shirts,  done on papolio ink jet paper but I used my  Epson 1100 with the cobra pigment inks ciss.  Then I coat them with a UV spray and all you do is peel and stick...

IMG_3430.jpg

IMG_3451.jpg

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here is what ive come up with looking into it. if anyone here who actually knows these things, please correct me if im wrong.

"expensive" is a relative term. at first, i was seeing special printers for thousands of dollars and thought, screw that.

then i noticed some of the smaller ones a lot of ppl are using, and they were definitely what id consider reasonable. iirc, somewhere in the $300 range.

the thing that has kept me from trying it, though, is that i hear these dye/pigment based ink printers clog up very easily, and if they arent used daily, they will likely clog and cause problems, as the ink dries out quickly.

as nice as it would be for me to try some of them, i cant see me using one every day. hell, i cant see me using it once a week. so to pay $120ish for a new set of ink cartridges maybe once a month when id get call to use it, was just not worth getting into, afaic.

so, guys with printers, am i pretty much on with this? because if not, i can still be swayed to try it out. 

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Correct, but they have software to print a test page every day. You might be able to print a small test sample just enough to move the ink threw.

Even the DTG printers use Pigment ink and you have to do a test print every couple of days. If not, they can clog. Those Machines cost $10,000 plus. Once you get use to doing a test print you don't think anything about it.

Also, you use a CIS setup so you have alot more ink than what's in a cartridge. With the CIS you only need to buy bottles of ink.

Another thing is that the point here is to sell enough so you're printing everyday. One thing I hate doing is heating up the Heat Press just for one t-shirt.

I'm sure it would be easier if you had to do a couple or so a day.

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I went away and had my one printer on the auto print I wasn't worried about it.  However my second one was on my wifes laptop and my son didnt get there in time to give me a hand installing the auto print  so I thought I will take my chances.

Went away for 12 days came home turned it on printed a test page and it looked great like I never shut it off.  Someone else made a post I think they went over two weeks without a problem.  I am not saying you should probably go that long but at the same time all the hype about printing something every day isn't true.....

And let me just say they  both are the 1100 with the cobra ciss....

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I have an 1100 with cobra ink cis system pigment inks and do not print daily. I have never had a bad print come off the printer whether it's 2 days in a row or 7 days after sitting.

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devildog,

I have a customer that uses this place and has raved about the quality of their stickers and labels.

I have not used them so I can not personally stick up for them.  :huh:   

You might check em out if you don't want to go thru the expense of buying all the stuff yourself.

Just an FYI my customer says they are very reasonable in price and service.

www.lightninglabels.com

Thanks

Stetson5331

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Lightning Labels is a good company to work with, I have ordered from them a few times with fantastic results! I order from them when I get an order in for labels that need to be on rolls.

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